It depends how you define "permanent". Some things are more permanent than others - as the saying goes.For some, death is considered permanent and for others - their life is considered to be just a point on a line that can potentially have no end.Within the traditional Buddhist context, there are some intentional acts that bring about rebirth in heavenly or hellish realms that last extraordinary lengths of time, but even those eventually come to an end.kind regards,

Ben

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.

There are five heavy kammas that give a definite result of rebirth in hell in the next existence — killing one's mother, one's father, an Arahant, injuring a Buddha, or causing a schism in the Sangha.

Hell is not permanent according to Buddhism, though it may seem like it for those reborn there. Eventually, the evil kamma that led to rebirth in hell expires and rebirth in other realms is then possible.

The cycle of births and deaths is eternal. Like all circles, it has no beginning or end. However, by practising the Buddha's teaching, the cycle of birth and death can be broken, and the end of suffering can be reached.

So the cycle of birth and death is without end, but not without any possible end. To put an end to death one must put an end to rebirth. Birth has a cause, which is attachment. Attachment has a cause, which is craving, and craving arises due to ignorance. By eradicating craving and ignorance, the cycle of birth and death can cease.

Bhikkhu, does craving have the same meaning in pali as in english, for instance can craving mean "to dwell on" or "obsess over"???

18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community that has so generously given me so much, sincerely former monk John

The destruction of the fetters is permanent, in the sense that once thay are gone they can never arise again. Also the dissolution of the khandhas at paranibbana is permanent in the same way. But I get the feeling this is not what you mean by permanent. There is nothing that arises that does not cease.

"If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared." Iti 26

18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community that has so generously given me so much, sincerely former monk John